First, I considered just a Fitbit for tracking activity, but I quickly ruled it out, since you can get so much more with a full smartwatch.

Then, I looked into the Pebble, in particular the latest model the Time Steel, which runs between $200-$250.

But I watched a review that pointed out the the Pebble does not have a touch screen, and everything are the buttons–okay, I immediately ruled that out.

Next, I looked to old trusty, Apple…they have never failed me yet, and I tried on their various smartwatches.

I settled on a simple sports model, since I figured as the technology continues to evolve or as the watch gets beat up in daily use, I could simply upgrade to the next great thing.

Also, I figured if I really don’t like how it works, it wouldn’t be such a great loss monetarily.

Well, the verdict is in–I really like it!

Easy to set up by simply syncing with the iPhone.

And then all your major apps just show up on the colorful apps panel.

In no time, I was checking the 10-day weather forecast, reading news headlines, tracking my activity, using the GPS locator, looking up calendar events, checking email and replying with easy voice dictation, sending text messages, and even calling family and talking to them into the watch!

I even started the music on my iPhone from another room by using the smartwatch.

Oh yeah, I almost forget, it tells the time too!

Except for taking photos, which would be really cool with the watch, but it doesn’t do–it did most of the basics that I wanted it to.

For not a lot of money, I felt that I was getting a lot of convenient functionality, and I am now encouraging my wife and kids to get it too.

The table with the Apple Watches is proudly on display towards the front of the store.

What do you notice about this picture?

Correct, there is NOT a single person looking at these watches!

And I have NEVER seen a single person wearing an Apple Watch.

Even though there certainly are other customers in the store looking at other highly desired Apple products.

The customer closest to the watches has his back turned to them.

No killer apps–where’s the beef in terms of functionality?

Maybe that is unfortunately the story of the Apple Watch version 1.0–the customers were lining up to check them out a couple of months ago, but now they have turned their backs on this product failure.

Sadly, I feel like Steve Jobs and Dick Tracy are turning over in their graves at about this time now–how do I know, just check the watch. 😉

So the new Apple Watch promises to monitor our every virtual health status as technology and person blend to become one.

However, the question raised in the New York Times is whether this level of continuous monitoring is really all that necessary?

“One central rule of doctoring is that you only gather data that will affect your treatment?”

But how can more data hurt you?

– Change in measurements are often normal: For example, “blood pressure jumps up and down in response to thoughts, hydration, and stress.”

– Data sometimes outstrips our ability to understand it: So collecting more and more data may actually end up concealing the needle in the haystack, rather than culling the crucial piece of evidence we need for a diagnosis and treatment.

– Data can sometimes belie the underlying truth: “Some patients die with ‘Harvard numbers, [and in others] test results can can look bad even when the patient is fine.”

– Obsessive-compulsive monitoring may actually stress us out: “If you were dieting would stepping on the scale 1,000 times a day help you lose weight?” Perhaps, the stress of monitoring every stat we generate may actually make us sick from fear and worry.

The point is that as they say, “there can be too much of a good thing”–monitoring and checking is helpful, but not every minute of every day without some intelligent filtering and analysis.

Perhaps, the technology will evolve to wear the monitoring is unobtrusive and where the artificial intelligence is there to more or less accurately decipher true warning signs from run of the mill changes in bodily functions, and where data is aggregated to get a holistic picture and diagnosis of the person rather than a snapshot of individual functions.

No one can live under a microscope and making ourselves sick with an endless stream of health tracking and worries is not helpful.

However, in time, the technology will most certainly evolve to where it will be discreet, accurate, and truly lifesaving. 😉